Scratch Build – In Progress Project: MCE V.2 [Update - May 19th - Matrix Orbital mayhem!]

It's time for another update it seems. I've mainly done work (alot actually) on the psu, but also some on the back. More specifically the part where three lighted pvc tubes are supposed to go.

I'll be using this dark smoked acrylic for the detail. Sorry for not taking that many pics of this part...




Put two of these acrylic pieces in between, I'll slide the three tubes in these.


Lastly I put an aluminium top this. Bent it between two planks that stick out from the wall in my workshop






There... It's time for the psu to really take shape. First off, I don't have anything to connect the power cord to (which could be a small problem lol). To keep it simple, I decided to simply cut out the one in the original psu I stripped down.

Consider your warranty voided




Time to brake out the trusty Jigsaw




Done!


The work on the psu continues... I wanted to make something "vent-like" on the sides of where the psu sticks out on the back. I thought a while about it and I decided to use many small pieces of acrylic with 4mm spacers in between.

Found a short piece of M4 threaded bar (correct?) which would be perfect for this.


And so, I milled a number of these pieces of acrylic (the same black type as before).




It actually looks pretty damn good


Milled two 2mm aluminium pieces to hold the stacks together.



And while I was in the mood I made four 20mm long spacers from a 10mm solid aluminium bar.


The fit is very nice & snug


Wee The 60x60mm fans are still missing in action though...


Last but not least in this update, are the last pair of lasercut stainless steel. Obviously, these are supposed to go on the sides on the "legs", but there's a problem. When I designed these I did'nt know where I would put the power connector. Ever wondered how hard it is to cut 2.5mm stainless steel?

The answer is: Not hard at all actually, not with a brand new Jigsaw at hand




After a shedload of filing...


Looks pretty sweet to me


This thing is gaining more and more weight lol


That's all for now, bring me your comments

 

............but it looks awesome.............. ....... so beautiful


Alan

 

Quoted for Truth. Amazing.

 

amayzing !! it looks realy heavy.

2 questions; what are the external dimention, I don't see how big/small it is and are you going to hide cables in the 3 tubes ?

keep it up !

 

Awesome, and strangely massive looking. It looks a lot bigger than it really is. I don't know if it's the design or the camera angle.

 

Huge thanks guys

1: It's about 40cm high, and 50cm wide. I'll take a pic comparing it to something soon.
2: Yup, I'll route cables from the (future) 128x128 LCD Display on the back (The square hole).

Cheapskate: Yeah, I agree and it actually does look that massive IRL too

 

I'm stunned ! -. OMFG :O Damn .. i only have one (or,, actually 2) things to say: NICE DETAILS!!

.. keep up the exxxtreme nice work.

 

Well, all I can say is WOW. This thing is awesome man

...And that seems to be my resounding reply to the majority of the threads in this section lol.

 

Sheesh! Looks like a slide out in a motor home. Entirely impressive to one who builds SFF mods. I'm in awe.
John

 

As with all of your projects Sleepstreamer, that case oozes SHA-BOING-BOING!

Official SHA-BOING-BOING Factor: 10

 

Absolutely stunning!! The ideas, the design, the quality of build... simply awesome!!! O_O ¤_¤ *^_^*

A few questions/thoughts:
1. How does that new jig-saw compare to others you have used? How much was it, and where did you get it?
2. Will you make some kind of plexi "pass-through-plate" for the hoses on the sides to straighten em up, or is that only a mock-up and it will be straight and neat when finished?
3. Will you shorten the plate that's immediately outside those awesome black vents.. looks like it's covering em up a little atm.. which is a shame, imho.
4. Will you replace the plain nuts of the vent thing for something sexier later? Perhaps something similar to this? ->

Sleeve nut @ www.hafele.co.uk

Keep up the amazing work!

 

Awesome

 

1: Honestly I have'nt really had much time trying it out just yet, but my old one was worn out in every possible bearing. Also the new one has more power. It was about 2000 SEK (300 US$)
2: Way ahead of you Did that earlier today .
3: Yeah, maybe... Should be pretty easy to shave a couple of mm off it with the new jigsaw.
4: Yup I'll either make my own from some black acrylic, or buy a pair of those rounded ones (Don't remember what they're called).

Thanks alot man

 

For some reason, it reminds me of Hangar 101 The plexi spacers look really good, in fact the whole case does

 

That is quite simply

 

1. ok.
2. Hehe, great minds... ;D
3. ok.. yup.
4. ok. Hmm, what about taking one of those black socket head M6/M8 screws that you are using elsewhere on the case, cut it shorter, drill a hole in the shaft and thread it. That way you'll get a nut that works like the one in the pic above, but looks like the other screws on the case. If you want to keep the size of the nut down you could re-thread the M4 treaded rod to M3 and then make a smaller socket-screw-nut. (You'll probably have to modify/buy a treading bit (??)(in Swedish: gängtapp) so it/that can reach closer to the bottom of the hole, unless you already own one like that.)
Alternatively, you could join a socket head M4 screw with the threaded M4 rod with a short piece of metal tube that's treaded on the inside. To make the joint permanent you can also add some solder into it.

Well, that's my €0.02. *shrugs*

 

Dude, this is GREAT!! I love black/metal color scheme!!! Goes well with the teky futuristic theme. Maybee white leds woud be even better than blue..

 

They are white, it's just the camera messing with the pictures

Thanks

Macros: Those are all great ideas (some more intricate than others lol). I picked up those rounded nuts at the hardware-store today, but I'm not 100% sure about them. As it looks now I'll probably make my own by milling a round piece of acrylic, then drilling/tapping it... This is'nt final tho

 

Hehe.. intricate ideas is what I'm all about. ^_^;
I'm not a believer in rounded nuts either, hence the (intricate) ideas. I'm looking forward to see what you cook up! ^_^

Hehe, I just had another idea of how to join a socked head screw with the treaded rod.. cut a groove in the end of the threaded rod leaving two taps/pegs, and then cut away in the end of the socket screw producing one tap/peg that fits between the two taps/pegs in the rod. Join them together and either drill a small hole through all three taps/pegs and insert a metal pin (if you make it a tad longer than the diameter of the screw, you can whack it to produce a rivet), or solder em together, or both. Much easier than my other ideas blush, and not very much harder than making a nut from acrylic.

Sorry for blurting out another idea.. could not help my self. *looks down at my feet in shame*

[edit]
Hmm.. if you find it hard to make those small pegs on the M4 rod/screw, it might be better to use say a M6 socket head screw and then cut the threaded part to the same length as the thickness of the black acrylic (+ thickness of the sheet metal (?)). Then cut the groove into the socket screw end and make _one_ tap/peg on the M4 rod instead. This way you can make the taps/pegs a little bit sturdier if you have/want to. Then drill out the hole in the first 'vent fin' to fit the short M6 screw.
[/edit]

 

I like how you do your builds in layers, puting acryl and alu in a sandwitch way that you do add a greater dept to your pc builds and the patterns in the alu and acryl gives it a futuristic industrial look that i think is very cool.

Regards.